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HomeMy WebLinkAbout02102015actions 1 ACTIONS Board of Supervisors Meeting of February 10, 2015 February 11, 2015 AGENDA ITEM/ACTION ASSIGNMENT PODCAST 1. Call to Order.  Meeting was called to order at 5:00 p.m., by the Chair, Ms. Dittmar. All BOS members were present. Also present were Tom Foley, Larry Davis and Travis Morris. Listen 2. Work Session: CPA-2013-01. Comprehensive Plan Update/Amendment, to begin with public comments and possible Board direction.  Chapter 13 Implementation – Text  Planning Commission Recommendations  Redlines of Chapters 1 – 7  Prioritization of Strategies Wayne Cilimberg/Elaine Echols: Proceed as directed. (Attachment 1) Recess. The Board recessed at 6:28 p.m., and reconvened at 7:06 p.m. 3. Continuation of Work Session to include public comments and possible Board direction.  Held. Wayne Cilimberg/Elaine Echols: Proceed as directed. (Attachment 1) 5. From the Board: Matters Not Listed on the Agenda. Ken Boyd:  Announced that he would be presenting his motion about the Small Area Plan at the February 11 meeting. Ann Mallek:  Announced that September 19 – 27, 2015, the UCI Road Race Championship would be coming to Richmond and asked Supervisors to consider taking steps to ask the County’s representatives on the CACVB their plans for the event. Diantha McKeel:  Announced that on February 12, 2015, at 7:00 p.m., at Meadows Presbyterian Church, she, in conjunction with the City, will be hosting an open house on the Best Buy ramp project. Brad Sheffield:  Announced that the CTB has a meeting scheduled for February 18, 2015. Ken Boyd:  Announced that on January 29, 2015, at 6:3 0 p.m., Sutherland Middle School, he will host a town hall meeting. Listen 6. From the County Executive: Report on Matters Not Listed on the Agenda. Tom Foley:  Provided clarification on reassessment notices that were sent out.  Reminded Supervisors that they would need to adjourn to February 18, 2015, at 8:30 a.m., for the CTB meeting, following the February 11 Board meeting. 7. Adjourn February 11, 2015, 4:45 p.m., Lane Auditorium.  The meeting was adjourned at 8:44 p.m. 2 ewj/tom Attachment 1 – Comprehensive Plan Update Discussion 3 ATTACHMENT 1 ALBEMARLE COUNTY COMPREHENSIVE PLAN IMPLEMENTATION CHAPTER, REDLINES OF CHAPTERS 1-7, PRIORITIZATION OF STRATEGIES February 10, 2015 Direction from the Board – Woolen Mills CPA  Staff and the applicant should come back with more details about the proposed uses for the Woolen Mills property and are encouraged to find creative ways to maintain LI uses on the property while still allowing for flexibility for the developer. The Board will discuss this proposal further at the March meeting.  The applicant will share the specifics of his proposal with interested members of the Board before the next meeting. Direction from the Board – Artist Communities CPA Add the text below as recommended by the Planning Commission to the Rural Area Chapter: Strategy 5c: Consider amending the Zoning Ordinance to allow for artist residencies in historic buildings (as defined in the Historic Resources section of the Plan [hyperlink]). An artist residency is a facility where individuals are provide d time and space to create art within a unique geographic and cultural context. Meals, lodging, and private studio space are provided on -site to support uninterrupted creative work lasting from a few weeks to a few months. The purpose of artist residencies is to promote art as a critical cultural and societal resource. Participation in an artist residency is by invitation only. Artist residencies are neither commercial endeavors nor tourist destinations. They may be appropriate in the Rural Area if they can meet goals for preservation of historic structures and other Rural Area goals such as, but not limited to, natural resource conservation. Additions, alterations, and construction of additional buildings may be approved for artist residencies, provided that the architectural and historic integrity of buildings and the site is retained. New construction should be compatible in appearance with the historic buildings and the site and should not overwhelm them in terms of size, scale, and massing. New construction for residence halls is not appropriate as it would prevent reversion to a by- right use in the Rural Area. Artist residencies should only be available by special permit and consideration should be given to locations in or near crossroads communities or Development Areas. Direction from the Board – Implementation/Priorities  The Board affirmed the first six pages of the Implementation Chapter describing the ways in which the Plan will be implemented.  Board members will come back to next meeting ready to identify top priorities that staff can focus on as action items for the next 5 years.  Staff will provide information about what money is attached to each strategy, if any. Direction from the Board - Redline Draft Chapters 1-7:  Background o The Board affirmed that the Livability Project Goals (found within the Background Chapter) are appropriately stated within the individual chapters.  Values and Vision o Amend the vision statement to read “present and future generations” rather than “current and future generations.”  Natural Resources o Include information on the number and location of air quality monitors in the County and provide a link to where readers can find more information. o Staff should provide an update to the Board on the cost and status of th e GIS landcover work. o Board members will provide additional text at its next work session for Strategy 1f which states, “Allow and manage recreational uses of drinking water reservoirs and adjacent public land only as incidental uses to the primary function as a public water supply and in such a manner as to prevent cumulative impacts that may impair that primary function.” This text will discuss concerns with use of the City-owned Sugar Hollow reservoir by recreationalists and how this policy could be enforced. 4 o Incorporate references and discussion of climate change throughout the Plan where appropriate and Include the LCAP Report in the Reference Section.  Historic, Cultural, and Scenic Resources o In the text under Objective 5, add the following statement, “Monticello is a National Historic Landmark and the only house in the United Stated designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.” o Include language that we want to make sure that historic structures are financial viable so that they can be protected. Add text about the need for flexibility but do not detail specific use types. Some language from the Historic Preservation Plan might provide a good basis for this. o Add a strategy to study whether or not additional controls, such as a 150’ setback are neede d along Rural Scenic Roads, under Objective 7: “ Maintain or improve the visual quality of all of Albemarle’s roadways.”  Economic Development o Include broad language, where appropriate, stating that we are supportive of companies who are achieving our sustainability goals. This should be noted in the Plan but does not rise to level of becoming a separate target industry.  The Rural Area o Under Strategy 3f, add text about the need to review the standards for easements. Use language from Agricultural Forestal district description as a starting point for discussion. o Under Strategy 3g, reference the TDR study that was done a few years ago and include it in the References section. Board Comments – Woolen Mills  This use is similar to the recently approved indoor soccer use in a Light Industrial (LI) district and we were ok with losing LI space, but it was temporary.  This project is fantastic, but, we should not create an expectation for future residents that an employment use is undesirable, such as occurred in the Village of Rivanna with residents who came out against mixed use development. Woolen Mills is in a corner of the County that can be rich for LI. If we put all the residences in here we might run into a similar situation.  It would be very difficult to get an LI use on this property and this site should be given flexibility because it is very unique.  Forty-nine percent of this space would translate into a large number of residences. It seems that a large portion of this site would be suitable for unique LI uses, not necessarily large factories, but smaller, unique businesses. We should be hesitant to change the rules on this.  Woolen Mills is mostly in the City, served by infrastructure, and adjacent to existing neighborhoods and businesses. I don’t see this area growing commercially.  The site is near I-64 and rail transportation which is what industries look for and seems suitable for industrial uses.  The County should be open to new uses. One example of a site that the County converted from LI is no w being constructed into a Wegmans, which many citizens are happy about.  The Comp Plan has to work in conjunction with private owners who have unique ideas for the development of their property. We should be open to working in partnership with the propert y owners and not opposed to considering what an applicant has brought forward.  We should not make significant changes to our LI land uses until we have an Economic Development Director in place. It would be helpful to see what a special designation for this property might be before making a decision. Some of our LI areas currently don’t have the necessary infrastructure and I am hesitant to change this property from LI for this reason.  Can the Comp Plan have +/- 10% for types of uses within each designation, similar to what you see in a real estate advertisement?  Can we allow the applicant to do a bubble plan saying how many floors will be residential, business and LI rather than requiring specific percentages?  The applicant is just looking for a little flexibility. He thinks they can probably get close the 50-50 split between residential uses and commercial/LI uses, but that they don’t feel comfortable being held to those numbers. Board Comments - Artists Community CPA:  When the Planning Commission discussed this use they tried to come up with many similar scenarios to this use and how it would look. I don’t think we will be overwhelmed with this type of use in the County since they are the only group like this statewide. It does not seem that this one us e should even warrant a Comp Plan amendment. 5  The other side of the argument is that we should not be making things up as we go along and having the use in the Comp Plan helps prevent that.  The residence hall could be convertible to other Rural Area uses. Some examples of uses could be farm worker housing, a private school or a monastery. I would love to hear more about ways we can require this use to be convertible.  Where do you draw the line between a hotel in the RA and a residence hall?  The artist community is different than tourist lodging because it is longer term stay and there is less of a traffic impact.  Will the applicant will be raising money and having sales or fundraising events? This could have traffic impacts.  We should focus our discussion of this use on a need for consistency. The attractiveness of this particular user needs to be abandoned and we should focus specifically on use and impacts.  Convertibility of new construction would be difficult to enforce. How would we determine converti bility? Board Comments – Implementation/Priorities  Do we have the funds to do the all the things listed in the Implementation Chapter? It’s a reality that we need to keep in mind. Board Comments – Redline Draft Chapters 1-7:  Background o The Livability Project Goals should not be in the Comp Plan. These were joint goals written for the City and the County and at the time these were written the Board objected to several of the goals that were not appropriate for the County. The 1998 Sustainability Acco rds had info about controlling population and controlling economics of the community and many citizens object to these standards. o There does not seem to be anything within the Livability Project Goals that are not included somewhere else in the Plan. How can you object to clean air and clean water?  Growth Areas o The goal statement for the Growth Areas chapter is much more positive now. We want people to choose to live in the Development Areas rather than have it be an apology for preserving our Rural Area.  Natural Resources o It is important to maintain the discussion of well reporting and groundwater resources in the Comp Plan. Some areas of the County have a more limited supply of groundwater, which is important when considering certain types of development such as golf courses. o Climate change doesn’t necessarily work its way easily into the Natural Resources Chapter. The discussion of climate change might be well suited to include in the section about reducing emissions within the Transportation Chapter. Language in the Community Facilities chapter might also be appropriate. o On a hiking blog about Sugar Hollow one individual said that Sugar Hollow is the best park in Albemarle County because it is the only park where the County allows swimming. This is what I mean that we are not applying the management of drinking water reservoirs consistent with Strategy 1f. If in the future the City decides they want to make changes to how Sugar Hollow is managed, would this policy need to be updated? o The County is already applying Strategy 1f in all of our parks. We don’t own Sugar Hollow so we don’t have control over how it is managed. o We need to increase the bar for conservation easement acceptance. For example, one property under easement in the County was recently sold and the new owner decided they wanted a large commercial business on the property. This should be a point of discussion for the PRFA when accepting easements. There should be requirements such as the Chesapeake Bay initiatives and best management practices for those participating in easements.  Historic, Cultural, and Scenic Resources o Staff should identify topics from the Comp Plan related to Area B for the Planning & Coordination Council (PACC) to discuss at its next meeting in May. Creating more uniformity along the Entrance Corridors may be a project to pursue. 6 ALBEMARLE COUNTY COMPREHENSIVE PLAN IMPLEMENTATION CHAPTER, REDLINES OF CHAPTERS 1-7, PRIORITIZATION OF STRATEGIES February 10, 2015 5:00 PM Public Comment Greg Smith, applicant for Artist Communities ZTA and executive director of Virginia Center for the Creative Arts (VCCA), said that VCCA was founded in Albemarle County 44 years ago. He said they have applied for a Zoning Text Amendment to allow artist communities to locate within the Rural Area of the County. He said that conversations with staff have been both beneficial and challenging. He said they are the only artist community in Virginia so there is no current zoning from other localities to provide direction. He said their current facility in Amherst County is located on property zoned A-1. He said VCCA is likely to be the only applicant the County will come across for this use. He said he agreed with most of the text provided by staff in Attachment B. He said he disagrees with the statement that new construction of residence halls is not preferred. He said he contests this view because it ignores the fact that the group could build a structure that can be converted to an agricultural use in the future if and when the artist community is no longer using the structures. He said this could be a requirement in the zoning text and asked the Board to include artist community within the Comp Plan without the prohibition of new construction. Peter Caramanis, Woolen Mills developer, provided background to the Board about the Woolen Mills proposal. He said they initially asked for a Comprehensive Plan Amendment (CPA) to change the land use on the property to transitional, which he has since learned is an outgoing designation. He chose the transitional use because it allowed more flexibility for mixed use development. He said flexibility is an important factor for financial feasibility and the historic considerations of the property. He said he has met with staff over a ye ar ago about the details of the use of the property and it was determined that the project could move forward without the CPA if the residential component was less than 50%. He said that the Planning Commission reviewed the CPA request last week and supported allowing more flexibility and allowing more residential use. He asked the Board to accept the Planning Commission’s recommendation which would remove the 50% maximum on the residential component of the development. Brian Roy, Woolen Mills contract purchaser, said the property is a diamond in the rough within the County. He said the building on site is 100 years old and the history on the site predates the Civil War but the history of the site has been locked up because the current owners have held the property for 60 years. He said he hopes to open up this history by making it a residential and public property that engages the river. He said that other cities have made rivers an important part of downtown redevelopment but this has not yet happened in the County. He said he hopes to engage the river for recreation and possibly open a kayak shop because the site allows tremendous access to the river. He said the charm of the buildings is that they are 100 years old and their historic and industrial nature still exists which lends well to historic preservation. He said he wants to use the historic tax credit program to help develop the site which will ensure that the historic character of the site is preserved. He asked the Board for flexibility in how the project evolves and said the buildings on site do not lend themselves to current industrial uses. Tom Olivier, Samuel Miller District, Advocates for a Sustainable Albemarle Population (ASAP), said there are many good features of the plan and one glaring omission. He said the plan fails to identify the right size for the community we aim to be. He said the plan doesn’t acknowledge impacts of population growth. He said that the Growth Management chapter segment in Attachment C says growth in the Developmen t Area will preserve the Rural Area. He said that the plan also mentions that half of new building permits for houses were in the Rural Area. He said estimated population growth would increase the number of homes in the County by about 50,000 by the year 2040. He asked does anyone believe we can add half of these homes to the Rural Area without destroying environmental quality. He provided information about ASAP and about the impacts on the environment from population growth. He said that the City and County should start joint public process to identify a finite right size for the Community. 7:00 PM Public Comment None